The Ghost Who Kept A Secret

"Can you keep a secret?"

Cassidy, a little girl that was no more than right years of age with light brown hair, blue eyes and always dressed in a sky blue Victorian era dress, looked up at a circle of friends who came across an abandoned orphanage one day. The group of friends were startled when they first came across this little spirit girl. The group of teenagers around thirteen were too frightened to answer her until a boy named Lysander piped up.

"What kind of secret?" asked Lysander, the boy who decided that he wanted answers as to why a little girl was in this abandoned building.

"A secret as to why and how I got here." Cassidy answered. "I would rather tell you about the time I arrived here. The truth. It's better than telling you a lie. Is it not?" 

Lysander and his friends couldn't believe how a little girl could act so proper as if she was raised that way. 

"How would I be able to believe you? You're nothing but a little girl that could be lost and don't know how to get back home." Lysander, laughing at the possible fact that this child standing in front of him is just a little, confused girl needing to get home.

"I am home. This was my family's home before it was an orphanage. Now it just sits here in the dark part of the town where nobody visits anymore." Cassidy chimed in to make her story be known. "My family arrived here from England in the early 1800's and spent money on trying to build a business while building our home. I was born shortly after the holiday season of 1831. I am the youngest member of my family but my life was cut short as I had fallen ill. My family tried everything to keep me alive as I was the only girl born in the family. I had older brothers. Four of them, you see." 

"What's this got to do with the truth of why you're here? It sounds like you're just messing with us." Lysander's friend answers with a blow of skepticism to the spirit of Cassidy.

"My family's business was to create a home for lost children. Much like this one. Except for the one secret that this building holds."

Cassidy didn't like the secret of this building. The main reason as to why this building is so famous around town but is forbidden to be entered at all costs. Her family was the wealthiest family to be known around here in Virginia but they fell victim of bankruptcy in the early 1920's when her brothers had families of their own and tried to keep each orphanage running for years to come. They managed to survive the civil war as children were being separated from their parents every day, left and right but that doesn't change the fact that they lost money to pay taxes. In 1929, the families filed for bankruptcy. They could no longer help the lost children of the families who die in the state. They tried everything they could. The only successful thing that kept each orphanage up and going was farming but selling any excess supply of the crops and livestock to people around them so they could feed everyone. 

One man that had later married into her family had adopted every child he could from one orphanage every few years. He eventually died and those children that he adopted were changing the world as Cassidy knew it around her. One child that she watched from the windows of her former room decided that he was going to repurpose this rotten mess of a home into a better home for lost children and into a small schoolhouse. The schoolhouse was supposed to have it's own wing and be connected to the kitchen. The wing was never finished as other spirits of the house took control of the house when the renovations started. Many souls that never left the house were of children who died after being beaten by the previous owners of the orphanage, Cassidy's parents. They were upset after so many years missing their little girl that every child that looked like her had fallen off the path to become a proper member of society. Whether it was a little boy or girl that needed better education had fallen under the rule and personal care of Cassidy's parents. Even sleeping in her room. 

At one point, her room had over 21 children her age sleeping in there. Most of them were sleeping on the cold hardwood floors of winter. That's how 10 that she knew of died. They didn't have any other forms of heat to keep warm at night as Cassidy's parents had made a decision after she died that if her fireplace were to be used ever again the fire would need to be put out after a certain time at night. The fire was always put out at midnight and the 10 children that she knew of had passed away from the chilly winters.

As she was telling Lysander and his friends this story, the other spirits of the house started coming out of their hiding places. She didn't want to mention the dark history that follows these children but the truth was the children took the skeptics and hid them within the house. Many people disappeared from the house, some turned up years later standing in the overgrown gardens behind the house. Others were lost forever, possibly dead. One by one, Lysander's friends disappeared until he was the only one left.

The orphanage, despite the dead taking skeptics to their hiding spots, had a huge secret that remains a mystery as to why it is named the way it is. The state of Virginia never changed the name of the place that they owned until they closed it indefinitely when the building had become nothing more than a project as the unfinished wing still could not be finished after six decades  since the start of renovations. The orphanage closed in the 70's officially and became a historical building but no government official could go near it after the closing of it. The building still stands as a historical building but condemned and behind a chain link fence on sixty acres of land.

"So I ask you again. Can you keep a secret?" She asked as she turned away from the window as she watched the last of the victims being pulled into the hiding spots with the lost souls.

Lysander answered, not knowing where his friends went until looking around. "Yes. What is it?"

Cassidy answered his question. "This is 'Cassidy's Home for the Forgotten and Lost Children'. Tell me what your name is."

Lysander answered in a frightened tone. "Lysander Aaron Monroe, descendant of the Monroe family who once owned a bunch of homes like this one. Why?"

Cassidy once again answered the boy who stood nearby her. "My name is Cassidy Alessa Monroe and I'm one of your ancestors. I cannot leave my home and you should be thanking me for getting rid of your friends."